Power electronic converters impact all aspects of power systems – generation (renewable), transmission, distribution and end use. Power electronics is the key technology that enables reliable and secure integration of very large-scale renewable resources to the grid, new architectures including micro-grids, distributed grid control, and the rapid shift to electric transportation. This talk will highlight power electronics and controls in advanced PV inverters, wind energy systems, solid-state transformers and EV infrastructure. Key concepts that explain how the advanced functionalities are realized will be described. Recent advances in high voltage power electronics with wide bandgap devices, new topologies, and emerging trends and research challenges will be presented.

The seminars are scheduled for 1:30 pm on the dates listed above. The speakers are renowned scholars or industry experts in power and energy systems. We believe they will bring novel insights and fruitful discussions to Stanford. This seminar is offered as a 1 unit seminar course, CEE 272T/EE292T. Interested students can take this seminar course for credit by completing a project based on the topics presented in this course.

Dr. Raja Ayyanar is a Professor of Electrical Engineering at the Arizona State University, Tempe. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis and the M.S. from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. His current research areas include power electronic converter topologies, control and modeling for applications in renewable energy, electric vehicles, data centers and motor drives. He has published over 150 papers in this area and holds six U.S. patents. He is the ASU Campus Director for the NSF ERC – Future Renewable Electric Energy Delivery and Management (FREEDM) Systems Center. He is a past recipient of an ONR Young Investigator Award.